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DDeakin Research Online Research Online This is the published version (version of record) of: Jogulu, Uma and Wood, Glenice 2007-06, Leadership empowerment - power struggle, Engineering management journal, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 36-37. Available from Deakin Research Online: http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30020893 ©2007 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.

Empowering staff to embrace the challenge of organisationalgoals is what leadership is all about today, but Uma iogulu and

Glenice Wood query whether it's the only way

p owe r strugg6leDESPITE THE USE of the term'leadership' for more than ahundred years, researchers arestill trying to understand whatconstitutes ideal leadershipthrough an analysis ofcharacteristics and behaviours.Today the study of leadership hasgained prominence in all walks oflife, and has become increasinglyimportant because of the forces ofchange exerted on organisationsthrough globalisation. This hasled to a focus in the style ofleadership roles that are believedto cope most effectively with thechanging environment because ofthe globalisation of the marketeconomy, changingorganisational structures andincreasing workforce diversity

STYLES OF LEADERSHIPContemporary leadership'research highlights twoprominent styles of leadershipthat are widely exhibited bymanagers in organisations; today-these are known as'transactional' and'transformational' leadership.Although these two terms first

appeared in the late 1970s toexplain the behaviouraldifferences of political leaders,they have since became widelyused as descriptions ofmanagerial leadership inorganisational settings.

The 'transactional' leadershipstyle is defined as the transactionbetween leaders and followers,who are rewarded or disciplinedbased on work performance. Thisstyle of leadership dependsstrongly on the leader's power toreinforce work standards toensure successful completion oftasks by their staff; reinforcementcan be materialistic or symbolic,immediate or delayed, partial orwhole, implicit or explicit, andinvolve rewards or resources. Insummary, the transactionalleaders' crucial aim is to finishtasks and it is done bytransactions which reward orpenalise their staff.

In contrast, 'transformational'leadership involves establishingoneself as a role model by gainingthe trust and confidence offollowers. These leaders developtheir staff by empowering and

mentoring them to excel beyondthe organisational day-to-dayobligations. As a result,transformational leaders arecapable of communicating theorganisational vision andcreating awareness of thedirection that the followersshould be heading. In essence,such leaders are believed to havethe ability to motivate, inspireand support creativity in theirfollowers through taking personalinterest in the development oftheir individual staff.

Four subscales underpintransformational leadership:individualised consideration,intellectual stimulation,inspirational motivation andidealised influence.

Individualised consideration isdefined as a leadershipcharacteristic that givesimportance to mentoring theindividual development of staff.Such leaders usually llsten andtreat individual staff with equalinterest, which builds confidencein their followers. Intellectualstimulation in contrast is theability to challenge followers'

ideas about the way they aredealing with problems in order toinstigate novel creative problem-solving methods. As aconsequence, individualemployees will become skilled atproviding analysis and decisionmaking based on logical evidencerather than personal estimationor private judgement.

Inspirational motivation onthe other hand, is the leader'scapacity to set him/herself up assomething of a role model. Here,leaders strengthen their appealtowards followers throughmotivation and encouragement,and becoming a source ofinspiration. The very lastsubscale of transformationalleadership is idealised influence,which is actually a combinationof the three subscales mentionedpreviously This subscaledescribes the propensity ofleaders to communicate theorganisational vision in simpleterms for the understanding oftheir staff. In addition, idealisedinfluence incorporates an abilityto be emotionally sensitivetowards the needs and desires ofthe staff. This behaviour alsounderpins the charismatic styleof leadership.

WHICH IS MOSTEFFECTIVE?Two significant findings havearisen from the transactionaland transformational theories ofleadership. Firstly, research hasreported that female managers,more frequently than their malecolleagues, exhibittransformational leadershipstyles. Secondly, thetransformational style ofleadership has been strongly

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1. individualisedconsideration(respect andtreat staffequally)

2. intellectualstimulation(mentor staffto thinkanalyticallyand logically)

equated with effectiveleadership. Effective leadershipis deemed to be that whichconveys a clear vision of thedirection required by 21stcentury organisations, whileempowering employees toembrace the challenge, andcooperate in achieving that goal.These qualities are evident inthe attributes attached totransformational leadership, i.e.the ability to inspire, encourageand nurture employees toachieve the organisationalchanges that are continuallybeing imposed on institutions,management and employees.

Today, contemporaryorganisations are characterisedby flatter hierarchies and aconsensus managementapproach, with organisationsacross all industries beingobliged to be more customer-focused and service-oriented thanin the past. Such changes havebrought about a need for amanagement and leadership stylethat involves high levels ofparticipation and collaborationbetween superiors andsubordinates. When higher levelsof participation andcollaboration occur, enhancedorganisational decision makingis the by-product.

Such changes in

3. inspirationalmotivation(inspire staffto perform)

4. idealisedinfluence(communicateorganisation'svision simplyand beemotionallysensitivetowardsneeds of staff)

organisational behaviourrequire innovative leadershippractices. Research has foundthat transformationalleadership styles foster a greaterdegree of participation througheffective communication,empathy, flexibility andtolerance. Such leadershipbehaviours are able to motivateand inspire the new generationof employees to embrace theoperations of contemporaryorganisations. However, despitethe obvious benefits of this typeof leadership style, perhapsmore is required.

IS IT ALWAYS THEANSWER?A careful analysis of someaspects of transactionalleadership suggests that this styleof leadership is important undercertain circumstances.Transactional leaders have theability to 'manage' theorganisation to achieve existingaims; such skills will obviously bevery important at various timesin the operation of theorganisation to ensure thatexisting goals are achievedsuccessfully.

The transactional leadershipstyle is also of key importancewhen speed is required fordecision making and to maintain

satisfactory levels of currentorganisational performance.That is, transactional leadersmake sure that their followersare aware of the organisationaltasks and the potentialrewards attached to thoseresponsibilities. This meansthat transactional leaders oftenprovide task clarity to theirstaff which increases thelikelihood that the task will becarried out efficiently.

In summary, although thecurrent academic leadershipliterature reports empiricalevidence for the differences intransformational andtransactional leadership styles,many practising organisationalbehaviour experts state thatboth of these leadership stylesare fundamental in leading andmanaging contemporaryorganisations. In fact, accordingto a large scale meta analysisconducted in the US, effectiveleaders exhibit bothtransformational andtransactional characteristics intheir daily organisationalpractice.

Therefore, althoughtransformational leadershiphas been evaluated as theleadership style equated witheffective leadership,transactional style leaderswho provide clear direction andbring about time-drivenresponses and results incontemporary organisations,will continue to be seen asvaluable and appropriate,especially because of theenhanced organisationalefficiency that is likely toensue. U

" Uma D Jogulu is a PhD studentat the University of Balla rat,Australia, and is currentlyconducting cross-culturalresearch in the leadershipstyles of women inmanagement in Australia andMalaysia. Email: u.jogulu@dballarat.edu.au

" Glenice i Wood is a seniorlecturer at the University ofBallarat, Australia. Her researchfocuses on a longitudinalfollow-up study of Australianmale and female middlemanagers in order to examinetheir career advancement overthe past ten years.

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